In the mattress industry, it is well known that in certain mattress environments there is need to provide water, water vapor, or other liquid, vapor, or moisture barriers in order to prevent same from undesirably seeping or passing into certain portions of the mattress, or from passing out of the mattress. In the case of an innerspring mattress, particularly in hospitals or other health care environments, there is a need to prevent water, urine, or other liquids from passing through the upholstered cover of the mattress and into the innerspring portion of the mattress. Once within the area of the innerspring portion of the mattress, fluids are difficult to remove and can cause rusting or other undesirable effects.
In the instance of water mattresses, there is also a need to prevent the water within the water mattress from leaking into the cover of the mattress should a water bladder break or tear in some manner, and there is also a need to provide a vapor barrier between the water bladder(s) and the user.
Water-resistant materials have been used so as to provide a liquid or vapor barrier, but to date these barriers have been found ineffective in that some barrier material (such as a vinyl) is difficult to sew or otherwise fasten within the mattress. Another particular difficulty is that of tearing or ripping of the barrier material.
Therefore a need has been recognized for a mattress construction which provides a water or other liquid barrier, but also is resistant to tearing during manufacture or use of the mattress. A need has also been recognized to provide an improved water mattress construction which has improved resistance to interior water leakage and providing a vapor barrier. A need has also been recognized to provide a pocketed coil construction which has liquid- or moisture-resistant characteristics.